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CNN
Cable News Network, commonly referred to by its initialism CNN, is an American news television channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. The network is now owned by Time Warner and the news network is a division of the Turner Broadcasting System. CNN was the world's first channel to provide 24-hour news coverage. In terms of unique viewers (Nielsen Cume Ratings), CNN rates as America's number one cable news network, beating both Fox News and MSNBC. While the news network has numerous affiliates, CNN primarily broadcasts from its headquarters at the CNN Center in Atlanta. As of 2001, the network is available in 86 million U.S. households and more than 890,000 American hotel rooms. The U.S version of their broadcast is also shown in Canada. Globally, CNN airs through CNN International and has combined branded networks and services that are available to more than 1 billion people in over 212 countries and territories. History The Cable News Network was launched at 5:00 p.m. EST on Sunday June 1 1980. After an introduction by Ted Turner, the husband and wife team of David Walker and Lois Hart anchored the first newscast. Since its debut, CNN has expanded its reach to a number of cable and satellite television networks, several web sites, specialized closed-circuit networks (such as CNN Airport Network), and two radio networks. The network has 36 bureaus (10 domestic, 26 international), more than 900 affiliated local stations, and several regional and foreign-language networks around the world. The network's success made a bona-fide mogul of founder Ted Turner and set the stage for the Time Warner conglomerate's eventual acquisition of Turner Broadcasting. Despite its domestic standing, CNN remains a distant second in international news coverage, reaching just over half of the audience of the older BBC World News. Unlike the BBC's network of reporters and bureaus, CNN International makes extensive use of affiliated reporters that are local to, and often directly affected by, the events they are reporting. The effect is a more immediate, less detached style of on-the-ground coverage. This has done little to stem criticism, largely from Middle Eastern nations, that CNN International reports news from a pro-American perspective. This is a marked contrast to domestic criticisms that often portray CNN as having a "liberal" or "anti-American" bias. A companion network, Headline News (originally called CNN2) was launched on January 1, 1982 and featured a continuous 24-hour cycle of 30-minute news broadcasts. The Gulf War The first Persian Gulf War in 1991 was a watershed event for CNN that catapulted the channel past the "Big Three" American networks for the first time in its history, largely due to an unprecedented, historical scoop: CNN was the only news outlet with the ability to communicate from inside Iraqduring the initial hours of the Coalition bombing campaign, with live reports from the al-Rashid Hotel in Baghdad by reporters Bernard Shaw, John Holliman and Peter Arnett. The moment when bombing began was announced on CNN by Shaw on January 16, 1991, as follows: This is Bernie Shaw. Something is happening outside. ... Peter Arnett, join me here. Let's describe to our viewers what we're seeing... The skies over Baghdad have been illuminated. ... We're seeing bright flashes going off all over the sky. Unable to immediately broadcast live pictures from Baghdad, CNN's coverage of the initial hours of the Gulf War had the dramatic feel of a radio broadcast – and was compared to legendary CBS news anchor Edward R. Murrow's gripping live radio reports of the German bombing of London during World War II. Despite the lack of live pictures, CNN's coverage was carried by television stations and networks around the world, resulting in CNN being watched by over a billion viewers worldwide. The Gulf War experience brought CNN some much sought-after legitimacy and made household names of previously obscure reporters. In 2000, media scholar and director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University, Robert Thompson, stated that having turned 20, CNN was now the "old guard." Shaw, known for his live-from-Baghdad reporting during the Gulf War, became CNN's chief anchor until his retirement in 2001. Others include then-Pentagon correspondent Wolf Blitzer (now host of The Situation Room) and international correspondent Christiane Amanpour. Amanpour's presence in Iraq was caricatured by actress Nora Dunn as ruthless reporter Adriana Cruz in the 1999 film Three Kings. Time Warner-owned sister network HBO later produced a television movie, Live from Baghdad, about CNN's coverage of the first Gulf War. Coverage of the first Gulf War and other crises of the early 1990s (particularly the infamous Battle of Mogadishu) led officials at the Pentagon to coin the term "the CNN effect" to describe the perceived impact of real time, 24-hour news coverage on the decision-making processes of the American government. September 11 attacks CNN was the first cable news channel to break the news of the September 11 attacks. Anchor Carol Lin was on the air to deliver the first public report of the event. She broke into a commercial at 8:49 a.m. Eastern Time that morning and said: This just in. You are looking at obviously a very disturbing live shot there. That is the World Trade Center, and we have unconfirmed reports this morning that a plane has crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center. CNN Center right now is just beginning to work on this story, obviously calling our sources and trying to figure out exactly what happened, but clearly something relatively devastating happening this morning there on the south end of the island of Manhattan. That is once again, a picture of one of the towers of the World Trade Center. Sean Murtagh, CNN vice president of finance and administration, was the first network employee on the air. He called into CNN Center from his office at CNN's New York City bureau and reported that a commercial jet had hit the Trade Center. Daryn Kagan and Leon Harris were live on the air just after 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time as the second plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center and through an interview with CNN correspondent David Ensor, reported the news that U.S. officials determined "that this is a terrorist act." Later, Aaron Brown and Judy Woodruff continued the CNN Center Live coverage until around 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time as the attacks unfolded, winning an Edward R. Murrow award for the network. Brown had just joined CNN from ABC to serve as the breaking news anchor. CNN has made archival files of much of the day's broadcast available in five segments, plus an overview. Criticism and controversies CNN has been accused of perpetrating media bias for allegedly promoting both a conservative and a liberal agenda based on previous incidents. Critics, such as Accuracy in Media and MRC, have claimed that CNN's reporting contains liberal editorializing within news stories. It was derided as the "Clinton News Network" during the 1990s for its perceived favorable bias towards the Clinton Administration, in particular by Rush Limbaugh. The network has also been accused of being slanted toward U.S. interests when reporting on world conflicts and wars. Critics such as LA Weekly say it is part of an alleged pro-war news media. CNN itself denies any bias. Current shows Weekdays Saturday Sunday Specialized channels *CNN.com *CNN Airport Network *CNN en Español *CNN Headline News *CNN International *CNN+ (a partner network in Spain, launched in 1999 with Sogecable) *CNN TÜRK A Turkish media outlet. *CNNj A Japanese news outlet. *CNNfn American business news channel. *CNN/SI The network's all-news sports channel. Bureaus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CNN_News_bureaus_world.png CNN bureau locations :''Note: Boldface indicates that they are CNN's original bureaus, meaning they have been in operation since the network's founding.'' United States